header-logo header-logo

Spare change?

06 October 2011 / Richard Scorer
Issue: 7484 / Categories: Features , Damages , Personal injury
printer mail-detail

Skimping on compensation will fuel an increase in litigation & costs says Richard Scorer

According to the BBC (16 September 2011), the government has cut the budget of the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority (CICA). The CICA is a taxpayer-funded scheme which awards compensation to victims of violent crime. It will have £10m less this year—a cut of 5%. While the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) maintains that the reduced funding will be sufficient, the victim’s organisation, Victim Support, argues that there is already a “financial time bomb” in the scheme.

Sensible policy?

Is cutting the CICA’s budget a sensible policy, even in narrow accountancy terms? Between 1964 and 1 April 1996 the Criminal Injuries Compensation Board (CICB) awarded damages to victims of violent crime on the same basis as the civil courts. In 1995 the then home secretary, Michael Howard, deemed the CICB scheme too expensive and replaced it with the CICA scheme which came into effect on 1 April 1996.

The 1996 scheme was significantly less generous than the scheme it replaced. Whereas

If you are not a subscriber, subscribe now to read this content
If you are already a subscriber sign in
...or Register for two weeks' free access to subscriber content

MOVERS & SHAKERS

DWF—19 appointments

DWF—19 appointments

Belfast team bolstered by three senior hires and 16 further appointments

Cadwalader—Andro Atlaga

Cadwalader—Andro Atlaga

Firm strengthens leveraged finance team with London partner hire

Knights—Ella Dodgson & Rebecca Laffan

Knights—Ella Dodgson & Rebecca Laffan

Double hire marks launch of family team in Leeds

NEWS
Charles Pigott of Mills & Reeve reports on Haynes v Thomson, the first judicial application of the Supreme Court’s For Women Scotland ruling in a discrimination claim, in this week's NLJ
Charlie Mercer and Astrid Gillam of Stewarts crunch the numbers on civil fraud claims in the English courts, in this week's NLJ. New data shows civil fraud claims rising steadily since 2014, with the King’s Bench Division overtaking the Commercial Court as the forum of choice for lower-value disputes
The Supreme Court issued a landmark judgment in July that overturned the convictions of Tom Hayes and Carlo Palombo, once poster boys of the Libor and Euribor scandal. In NLJ this week, Neil Swift of Peters & Peters considers what the ruling means for financial law enforcement
Small law firms want to embrace technology but feel lost in a maze of jargon, costs and compliance fears, writes Aisling O’Connell of the Solicitors Regulation Authority in this week's NLJ
Artificial intelligence may be revolutionising the law, but its misuse could wreck cases and careers, warns Clare Arthurs of Penningtons Manches Cooper in this week's NLJ
back-to-top-scroll